I've relearned fundamental Unix and HTML, and am about to start learning intermediate/advanced skills. I've been trying to polish up my computer skills these days although it's been so nice outside!
3/31/2005
3/26/2005
MARCH MADNESS!!!
CONGRATULATIONS FIGHTING ILLINI for beating Arizona to become FINAL FOUR!
Oh my god. The game against Arizona was sooo tight!
Arizona - 89
Illinois - 90
Illini managed to catch up at the last minute during the 2nd half and played so well to win by overtime periods! It was so suspensful and exciting!
The victory tonight keeps the whole town happy. :D
YES, We Illini are proudly #1 in the nation!
CONGRATULATIONS FIGHTING ILLINI for beating Arizona to become FINAL FOUR!
Oh my god. The game against Arizona was sooo tight!
Arizona - 89
Illinois - 90
Illini managed to catch up at the last minute during the 2nd half and played so well to win by overtime periods! It was so suspensful and exciting!
The victory tonight keeps the whole town happy. :D
YES, We Illini are proudly #1 in the nation!
Miss Congeniality 2:
Went to see the movie with Charlene and Dora.
It was very funny! I really liked it. :)
Went to see the movie with Charlene and Dora.
It was very funny! I really liked it. :)
3/24/2005
Saturday, March 19:
Met up with Anita, Cecille and Becky in Chicago, and then went to lots of cheap clothes shops.
Karuna and Fei joined us for dinner, and we all had a great time at "Indian Grill" Raju works for.
Check it out if you are around Lincoln Park, IL.
Sunday, March 20:
Stayed at Anita's fab. apartment and got up at 4am to catch a 7am flight from Midway.
There were amazingly so many people flying out from Midway so early on Sunday.
I guess it was partly because of a spring break season.
Flew to SF to hang out with EMB! I arrived at SF around 9:40am and had a nice day. He added himself on thefacebook.com. I didn't think he would be interested in internet social network services, so I never talked to him about it. :P
Very disappointing that he ditched Illinois and created his profile as a Berkeley student...
Monday, March 21:
One interview at VA hospital in Martinez, CA. The director of the lab threw me a couple of hard questions, but I think I did fine overall. People were nice.
It sucked so bad on the way home with 1-hr waiting time for a bus in the rain.
Tuesday, March 22:
Two interviews at a private research institute and another VA hospital in SF, CA.
At the research institute, they gave me a very nice tour of the office and even showed me how to work with programs they develope and use for EEG analyses. I met about 6 people one at a time and they all asked me whether I wanted to drink something or go to the bathroom. Did I look so thirsty and agitated? or Were they just being nice? I think they were simply treating me very well, though.
The SF VA hospital was on the opposite side of the penninsula, and it took me about 40 minutes on a local bus (no express buses went that far) to get there from downtown where the first interview was. The hospital was so clean-cut! All buildings were ivory with a bit of brown on the roof, and the location was so neat - right by the SF bay. This time 2 research associates of an MRI research lab interviewed me. If I passed this first round, I will see an imaging manager at the second round, and then the director at the third! What a process! This lab has the most comprehensive hiring decision stages.
I will be happy to fly out for another interview, but I hope they do the 2nd and 3rd within one week so that I don't have to spend $700-800 for 2 seperate trips!
EMB paid for an Indian dinner... that was nice after a busy afternoon!
Wednesday, March 23:
Got up at 4am to catch a 7am flight. Thanks, EMB for driving me to N. Berkeley BART station so early! I was a bit worried about taking BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) at 4:30am in the morning, but it was moderately crowded with commuters and some travelers! Yes, it is very safe if you live around there and have to take it at 4am.
Can't imagine myself going to work at 5am every day... EMB explained to me that it's probably because some people work with the NY market.
Came back from Chi town to Urbana by Amtrak.
As I wrote here before, I despise LE# shuttle (the last letter ambiguated). That's why I bother to schedule my flights around Amtrak. Anyway, all I did was sit on the plane and train to go back to my sweet Urbana.
Thursday, March 24:
One phone interview with a clinic in Arizona. It sounded like there is too much of hands-on work and not much of data analyses, which is a turn-off. I hope I get acceppted at other places!
-------------------------------------------------
I have no clue how things turn out, but I'm so glad that these people at least acknowledged my quality from my resume and spared their time to meet me.
It's going to take some time for me to hear some good news. My status as a non-US citizen/permanent resident does hamper my job hunting because places I'm aiming at are not big corporations and often do not have visa support. As a rule, they don't specifically ask me about visa during the interview, but they eventually have to find it out and might cut me due to the trouble.
I'm not going to give it up so easily, though. I've been applying for as many positions as possible nationwide.
Wish me luck!
Met up with Anita, Cecille and Becky in Chicago, and then went to lots of cheap clothes shops.
Karuna and Fei joined us for dinner, and we all had a great time at "Indian Grill" Raju works for.
Check it out if you are around Lincoln Park, IL.
Sunday, March 20:
Stayed at Anita's fab. apartment and got up at 4am to catch a 7am flight from Midway.
There were amazingly so many people flying out from Midway so early on Sunday.
I guess it was partly because of a spring break season.
Flew to SF to hang out with EMB! I arrived at SF around 9:40am and had a nice day. He added himself on thefacebook.com. I didn't think he would be interested in internet social network services, so I never talked to him about it. :P
Very disappointing that he ditched Illinois and created his profile as a Berkeley student...
Monday, March 21:
One interview at VA hospital in Martinez, CA. The director of the lab threw me a couple of hard questions, but I think I did fine overall. People were nice.
It sucked so bad on the way home with 1-hr waiting time for a bus in the rain.
Tuesday, March 22:
Two interviews at a private research institute and another VA hospital in SF, CA.
At the research institute, they gave me a very nice tour of the office and even showed me how to work with programs they develope and use for EEG analyses. I met about 6 people one at a time and they all asked me whether I wanted to drink something or go to the bathroom. Did I look so thirsty and agitated? or Were they just being nice? I think they were simply treating me very well, though.
The SF VA hospital was on the opposite side of the penninsula, and it took me about 40 minutes on a local bus (no express buses went that far) to get there from downtown where the first interview was. The hospital was so clean-cut! All buildings were ivory with a bit of brown on the roof, and the location was so neat - right by the SF bay. This time 2 research associates of an MRI research lab interviewed me. If I passed this first round, I will see an imaging manager at the second round, and then the director at the third! What a process! This lab has the most comprehensive hiring decision stages.
I will be happy to fly out for another interview, but I hope they do the 2nd and 3rd within one week so that I don't have to spend $700-800 for 2 seperate trips!
EMB paid for an Indian dinner... that was nice after a busy afternoon!
Wednesday, March 23:
Got up at 4am to catch a 7am flight. Thanks, EMB for driving me to N. Berkeley BART station so early! I was a bit worried about taking BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) at 4:30am in the morning, but it was moderately crowded with commuters and some travelers! Yes, it is very safe if you live around there and have to take it at 4am.
Can't imagine myself going to work at 5am every day... EMB explained to me that it's probably because some people work with the NY market.
Came back from Chi town to Urbana by Amtrak.
As I wrote here before, I despise LE# shuttle (the last letter ambiguated). That's why I bother to schedule my flights around Amtrak. Anyway, all I did was sit on the plane and train to go back to my sweet Urbana.
Thursday, March 24:
One phone interview with a clinic in Arizona. It sounded like there is too much of hands-on work and not much of data analyses, which is a turn-off. I hope I get acceppted at other places!
-------------------------------------------------
I have no clue how things turn out, but I'm so glad that these people at least acknowledged my quality from my resume and spared their time to meet me.
It's going to take some time for me to hear some good news. My status as a non-US citizen/permanent resident does hamper my job hunting because places I'm aiming at are not big corporations and often do not have visa support. As a rule, they don't specifically ask me about visa during the interview, but they eventually have to find it out and might cut me due to the trouble.
I'm not going to give it up so easily, though. I've been applying for as many positions as possible nationwide.
Wish me luck!
3/21/2005
3/16/2005
ILL INI March Madness! The historical 32-1 record!!!
Go Go Illinois Men's Basketball! We can do it!
===================================================
I love using priceline.com for hotel reservations. It gave me a very very very fancy offer for one night in Chicago when my mother, her best friend and my aunt fly into O'Hare for my graduation. :)
Guess where I got! $60/room/night at Hilton Chicago! I reserved 2 rooms for 4 people, and this is still ridiculously cheap! Adrenalin rushed through my whole body, and now I am wide awake (at midnight). I'm so ready for watching "elimidate" and "blinddate." OK, I digressed... Well, after this luxurious one night, we are all gonna be packed into my apartment for 2 nights in Urbana (sorry, KK)... Since I used up today's luck, I will work on reserving a SF hotel sometime later.
Go Go Illinois Men's Basketball! We can do it!
===================================================
I love using priceline.com for hotel reservations. It gave me a very very very fancy offer for one night in Chicago when my mother, her best friend and my aunt fly into O'Hare for my graduation. :)
Guess where I got! $60/room/night at Hilton Chicago! I reserved 2 rooms for 4 people, and this is still ridiculously cheap! Adrenalin rushed through my whole body, and now I am wide awake (at midnight). I'm so ready for watching "elimidate" and "blinddate." OK, I digressed... Well, after this luxurious one night, we are all gonna be packed into my apartment for 2 nights in Urbana (sorry, KK)... Since I used up today's luck, I will work on reserving a SF hotel sometime later.
3/14/2005
Apparently I look like a darn good candidate for research associate positions...
One interview scheduled in Martinez, CA (about 25 miles away from Berkeley). :)
Hope a couple of other institutions get back to me sometimes soon.
Wish me luck!!!
Congrats to EMB's mom for getting an HR manager job!
--update--
Another interview with a brain research institute right in SF!!!
One interview scheduled in Martinez, CA (about 25 miles away from Berkeley). :)
Hope a couple of other institutions get back to me sometimes soon.
Wish me luck!!!
Congrats to EMB's mom for getting an HR manager job!
--update--
Another interview with a brain research institute right in SF!!!
3/12/2005
March 11 & 12 Beckman Open House (in conjuction with Engineering Open House)
Our lab showed how we study language processing using ERPs (event-related potentials aka brainwaves). This year BOH T-shirts were a lot better than the previous years!
We had lots of interested people, especially on Saturday. :)
Our Lab Theme - "Electrophysiology of Language"
Beckman Open House - Friday morning in the lab prep room
Yoko is happily being a fake subject.
Our lab showed how we study language processing using ERPs (event-related potentials aka brainwaves). This year BOH T-shirts were a lot better than the previous years!
We had lots of interested people, especially on Saturday. :)
Our Lab Theme - "Electrophysiology of Language"
Beckman Open House - Friday morning in the lab prep room
Yoko is happily being a fake subject.
3/08/2005
Nelly:
yo yo yo y'all, what's up champaign!
Kiyo invited me to join a group of people to see Nelly tonight at Assembly Hall because someone changed his mind at the last minute.
Yes, Nelly! I saw live Nelly! To be honest, when I got invited to be an emergency sub, I didn't have a clear picture of what his songs were like, though I knew his songs were often played on the radio.
Anyway, the show was good except for songs by not-so-popular rappers who performed before Nelly came out. That pre-show part was a really long 1 hour, which clearly made the audience bored. The long-waited Nelly's appearance was very sensational with the audience going crazy!
There was this one girl near me who just screamed throughout the show to express her love for him!!! Also, one girl in front of me was dancing as if she were drunk and in a dance club, by which I mean she shaked her boobs so hard! hehe It was pretty funny to observe the girl.
I enjoyed the show very much as I recognized several popular songs. :)
yo yo yo y'all, what's up champaign!
Kiyo invited me to join a group of people to see Nelly tonight at Assembly Hall because someone changed his mind at the last minute.
Yes, Nelly! I saw live Nelly! To be honest, when I got invited to be an emergency sub, I didn't have a clear picture of what his songs were like, though I knew his songs were often played on the radio.
Anyway, the show was good except for songs by not-so-popular rappers who performed before Nelly came out. That pre-show part was a really long 1 hour, which clearly made the audience bored. The long-waited Nelly's appearance was very sensational with the audience going crazy!
There was this one girl near me who just screamed throughout the show to express her love for him!!! Also, one girl in front of me was dancing as if she were drunk and in a dance club, by which I mean she shaked her boobs so hard! hehe It was pretty funny to observe the girl.
I enjoyed the show very much as I recognized several popular songs. :)
3/04/2005
Bouncing back:
I hit the rock bottom once and came back to the usual me.
To everyone's surprise, I was not able to achieve my biggest goal of the year.
February was a very harsh month for me to spend, especially at the end. So many things ran through my mind, and I fell into a big black hole for about one day.
I was so upset because I couldn't see anyting in the dark, deep black hole. The more I struggled to escape, the deeper I dug into. Then all of sudden, it occurred to me that I should stay calm and vigilant to watch for a line of light to the bright outside world.
Since there were so many directions to look at, I started to slowly look around 360 degrees for a trace of light. When reaching around 120 degrees, a beam of light fell on me!
The light seems to be trustful. I am carefully following the path to the bright world because I don't want to regret taking this detour when I look back in the future.
Some day I will be successful.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My life is not so bad. really. It IS actually going better than I thought.
I will be one of the authors on a memory project. :) Yes, my name is going to be printed inbetween professors when it gets published on a journal! I honestly didn't expect this much of acknowledgment, so it is AWESOME! We don't know when, but stay tuned.
Besides this, I am hunting for a full-time research assistant job for the next two years. This is another competitive position for me since not everyone is willing to hire a non-US resident because of their research funding through federal grants.
You know what, this residency restriction thing makes me more thrilled and gives me a sense of satisfaction when someone shows interests in my quality regardless of my nationality. It is very rewarding to be acknowledged, and it is this country (US) where I want to challenge and survive the competitive game for many years to come.
I hit the rock bottom once and came back to the usual me.
To everyone's surprise, I was not able to achieve my biggest goal of the year.
February was a very harsh month for me to spend, especially at the end. So many things ran through my mind, and I fell into a big black hole for about one day.
I was so upset because I couldn't see anyting in the dark, deep black hole. The more I struggled to escape, the deeper I dug into. Then all of sudden, it occurred to me that I should stay calm and vigilant to watch for a line of light to the bright outside world.
Since there were so many directions to look at, I started to slowly look around 360 degrees for a trace of light. When reaching around 120 degrees, a beam of light fell on me!
The light seems to be trustful. I am carefully following the path to the bright world because I don't want to regret taking this detour when I look back in the future.
Some day I will be successful.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My life is not so bad. really. It IS actually going better than I thought.
I will be one of the authors on a memory project. :) Yes, my name is going to be printed inbetween professors when it gets published on a journal! I honestly didn't expect this much of acknowledgment, so it is AWESOME! We don't know when, but stay tuned.
Besides this, I am hunting for a full-time research assistant job for the next two years. This is another competitive position for me since not everyone is willing to hire a non-US resident because of their research funding through federal grants.
You know what, this residency restriction thing makes me more thrilled and gives me a sense of satisfaction when someone shows interests in my quality regardless of my nationality. It is very rewarding to be acknowledged, and it is this country (US) where I want to challenge and survive the competitive game for many years to come.
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